* * *
“I never had any intention of…” Junhee’s words were abruptly cut off.
“Assistant Yoo Junhee.”
“Yes?”
“Do you believe in hell?”
“No, I don’t,” he replied. He is an atheist.
He didn’t believe in heaven or hell, or in any god. The only one who could save him was himself.
“You can experience hell while you’re still alive. If you try to run.”
“Yes…”
He realized that while only he could save himself, others could just as easily drag him into hell—especially someone like Ki Taeryu.
“So, any objections?”
“No, none.”
This time, his response was immediate. Ki Taeryu, satisfied, tapped the contract with his fingertip.
Understanding his cue, Junhee prepared to stamp the contract.
“Wait.”
He looked up at him in confusion, only to see him holding out his thumb.
“Do I need to use my fingerprint?”
“Just like animals leave paw prints, humans have fingerprints. I prefer it raw.”
Three months definitely seemed impossible now.
Nonetheless, he complied with his demand and pressed his fingerprint onto the contract instead of a stamp.
Their agreement was now officially sealed. As if on cue, room service arrived.
An array of hotel dishes, champagne, and glasses were spread out on the vast dining table.
Junhee’s gaze lingered on the pale green liquid as it filled the glasses, bubbles rising along the glass walls.
“A toast,” Ki Taeryu said.
“Yes,” he replied, lifting his glass to clink it against his.
The bubbles fizzed again as he took a sip, the champagne burning slightly as it went down.
With the alcohol giving his some courage, Junhee took out the profile of ‘Kim Yihyun’ that he had prepared.
“I’d like to arrange your first meeting with this person,” he said, handing over the profile, which detailed Kim Yihyun’s age, height, education, profession, and wealth.
Normally, profiles wouldn’t be this detailed, but exceptions were made for VVIPs.
Ki Taeryu downed his champagne in one gulp, glanced at the photo on the front of the profile, and then carelessly dropped it on the table.
What he said next was astonishing.
“He looks like he can’t get it up.”
“Is his appearance… not to your taste?”
How could someone speak so crudely? Even that seemed like a skill in its own right.
Junhee’s mind flashed through Ki Taeryu’s impressive academic background listed in the profile.
Clearly, there was no correlation between education and manners.
“Assistant Yoo Junhee.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Even with food, people are drawn to what looks good first. Are you seriously telling me appearance doesn’t matter?”
“Well, people aren’t something you eat…”
“Why can’t you?”
Junhee swallowed his response.
Realizing the vulgar implication in his words, his face involuntarily scrunched up.
By now, Ki Taeryu’s pheromones had mingled with the scent of the food, subtly filling the space around them.
He deliberately held his breath, fearing that a deep inhalation would make him nauseous.
“At the very least, I’d prefer someone who looks more appetizing than you.”
“Well, I have other profiles prepared just in case.”
Ignoring his blatant stare, Junhee rummaged through his briefcase for another profile, hoping that he wasn’t serious.
As he reached for the stack of documents, Ki Taeryu’s deep voice interrupted the air once again.
“It would have been nice if Assistant Yoo Junhee were a recessive omega instead of a beta.”
“Matchmakers don’t date clients. It’s a strict company policy,” he retorted, this time keeping his composure.
Whether Ki Taeryu was joking or not, he knew he absolutely couldn’t let it slip that he was an omega.
Junhee, a recessive omega, barely emitted any scent compared to dominant or even regular omegas.
His heat cycles were irregular and infrequent, and it was only during those rare times that a faint pheromone scent emerged.
But even among recessive omegas, Junhee’s lack of scent was exceptional.
‘At least I wasn’t caught, so should I feel relieved?’
Even so, the fact that he was later abandoned by the parents who adopted him, thinking he was a Beta, left him unsure whether to feel despair instead.
Ki Taeryu picked up a knife and plunged it into the thick piece of meat. Juices tinged with blood seeped onto the plate.
“Isn’t being attracted to someone just human nature? How do you expect to prevent that with some company rules? If you go somewhere intending to meet someone, it’s possible you might end up meeting the manager instead, right?”
Ki Taeryu’s intentions were so obvious that it was unpleasant, but he tried hard not to show it.
“…Of course, you’re not entirely wrong, but if we start allowing it, problems will arise. Rumors will spread that couple managers, whose job it is to match members with each other, are snatching up the best members for themselves. There was already an instance in a competing industry where customers turned away for that very reason.”
Once a customer turns away, they never come back.
It’s not like they’re the only matchmaking company out there, and losing customer trust is like watching a sandcastle you’ve painstakingly built crumble away.
“If you eat anything you find, you’ll end up with a stomachache, right?”
It was true that the company had strict rules, but there were some couple managers who secretly got involved with clients.
If caught, they’d have to be ready to hand in their resignation, but he had no obligation to tell Ki Taeryu that.
“Here, this is a list of other members. Please take a look and feel free to let me know your thoughts.”
He quickly handed over the profiles, trying to shut him up before he could say anything more outrageous.
In truth, Junhee had always placed Kim Yihyun as the top priority, so the other members’ profiles were just there for show.
Ki Taeryu took the papers without much interest, flipping through them lazily. From the way he was behaving, it was clear he was only glancing at the first page.
He was about to give up, thinking there was no one who could possibly catch his interest when—
“Well, this one’s not too bad.”
“Who are you referring to?”
Ki Taeryu’s long fingers touched a specific spot. Junhee’s brown eyes widened in shock as he recognized the name on the profile.
“That person is….”
“What, are you worried you’ll get a stomachache?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Junhee bit the inside of his cheek. This was a mistake.
In his panic, he had accidentally included the profile of a member with a matching rate of -1%, which he had meant to leave out.
0% probably meant there was no chance at all, so introducing someone with a -1% match felt like inviting disaster. The thought alone sent a chill down his spine.
“So, that person is….”
Ki Taeryu took a long swig of champagne in a leisurely manner.
He looked like a drowsy predator, but he knew that if he let his guard down even slightly, he’d devour me in an instant.
Junhee, feeling as if the world was closing in on him, shut his eyes tightly before reopening them.
But, of course, nothing had changed.
“I’ll do my best to arrange a meeting as soon as possible.”
If it’s a relationship that won’t work out anyway, does it really matter if it’s 0% or -1%?
There will be plenty of other meeting opportunities, so maybe it’s better to let him meet someone unsuitable first.
Then, by comparison, the next person would seem much better, which might actually improve the chances of success.
As soon as the decision was made, Junhee started gathering up the papers.
“Thank you for the meal today as well, Director. I’ll be in touch….”
“Assistant Yoo Junhee.”
“Yes?”
Junhee had just risen awkwardly from his seat to bow and found himself unintentionally looking down at Ki Taeryu.
“What perfume are you wearing?”
“I don’t wear perfume.”
Wondering what nonsense he’d come up with next, Junhee gave a quick bow and tried to pass by Ki Taeryu in a hurry.
“But I keep smelling it.”
His wrist was grabbed. As his body teetered, he instinctively reached out and grasped onto something.
He managed to avoid falling, but it left him in an awkward position, sitting on the soft carpet with his hand clutching onto something as he struggled to lift his upper body.
“I-I’m sorry….”
A dark shadow loomed over Junhee as he tried to jerk his hand away from where it had landed on Ki Taeryu’s thigh.
Ki Taeryu leaned in close, his warm breath tickling the back of Junhee’s neck.
In a low voice tinged with amusement, Ki Taeryu whispered in his ear.
“See? It’s you. That delicious scent.”
* * *
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